Forthcoming Events
Wednesday 4 May – Charity Concert
Time: 19.00
Venue: The Purcell School, CP Hall
Tickets: Free admission. Donation to charity welcome
This student initiative will be an exciting concert to raise money for two very important charities: DEC’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, and Sound and Music, the inspiring UK music charity which supports and promotes composers. Student Maddie (Year 12) will conduct her Piano Concerto, with 4 soloists – Benji (Year 12), Ozel (Year 12), Amanda (Year 11) and Phoebe (Year 10) – each playing a movement, accompanied by an orchestra led by Frankie (Year 12), and a choir in the final movement. This has been an entirely student run project, with everyone working hard to support these wonderful charities, which can be donated to here, on the concert’s Just Giving page.
Wednesday 11 May – Music is Maths: Final Concert
Time: 19.00
Venue: The Purcell School, CP Hall
Tickets: Free admission
World-renowned mathematician Marcus du Sautoy and composer Emily Howard visited the school in March. They introduced our students to their work with PRISM at the Royal Northern College of Music and Oxford University, and led our new initiative ‘Maths is Music … Music is Maths’. High-level discussions about advanced mathematical and philosophical concepts inspired our students to create some of the works premiered tonight, all based on things such as geometrical shapes, numerical series, proofs or conjectures.
Wednesday 25 May – Creative Ensemble Concert
Time: 19.00
Venue: The Purcell School, Recital Room
Tickets: Free admission
Composer Daniel Fardon teaches at Purcell, and this year has run an innovative and unusual ensemble of very varied instruments that would not normally be played together. There is almost no repertoire written for this group, so our 6th form instrumentalists and singers improvise, devise and compose their own material for each other as they go. The result is often beautiful and dramatic, and always unpredictable!
Friday 27 May – Studio Ghibli Concert: Middle School Orchestra
Time: 13.00
Venue: The Purcell School, CP Hall
Tickets: Free admission
What is a better way to enjoy Friday lunchtime than with the colourful fantasy world of music from Studio Ghibli films? Music by Joe Hisaishi, which accompanies many of these animated films, is particularly memorable for its picturesque character. Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985, after the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), by the directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and the producer Toshio Suzuki. Six of Studio Ghibli’s films are among the 10 most successful anime films made in Japan, with Spirited Away (2001) at the top, and remain among the favourites of audiences of all ages. The composer Joe Hisaishi was recommended in 1983 to create an image album for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Hisaishi and the director Hayao Miyazaki subsequently became great friends. Castle in the Sky in 1986 was their first collaboration project under the Studio Ghibli title, followed by many others throughout the 1980s and 90s. This lunchtime we’ll take you through some wonderful tunes from Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke!.